Florence has achieved a balance that many would envy. Ilaka blazed the trail as the first female hired in Total Upstream production engineering department in Nigeria which was a male-dominated environment.
She was born in Lagos, graduated from University of Lagos with a B.Sc in Chemical Engineering. She holds an MSc in Petroleum Engineering and Project Development from Institut Francais du Petrol (IFP). Florence is married with 4 children (three girls and a boy). She loves helping orphaned kids and spending her free time in sporting activities or relaxing with a good movie.
Can you describe your position at Total?
As a Development Engineer, I manage pre-development studies through which the concepts and designs of some of our projects are defined. In this position, I have the opportunity of working with our finest in Engineering and Research. By continually challenging the team, I ensure that the selected design concept is the best to optimize resources and to develop the field most efficiently and safely. Committed to Better Energy is our motto and I ensure its application to development studies carried out on behalf of TEPNG DW assets.
How do you manage to achieve balance between motherhood and work?
I try to create time for the different aspects of my life and ensure I give total attention to what I’m doing wherever I find myself whether at home or in the office. I achieve this through methodical planning, prioritizing, and choosing work that I am passionate about.
I also learned to draw inspiration from hard-working women in other departments. In engineering, we are no longer trapped in the mentality that it is a field for men. It is actually open to everyone – but you have to prove yourself.
What has been your motivation in career since joining Total?
I enjoy my work. I love to see the results of development studies becoming full projects that come on stream, it’s beautiful when you imagine the man-hours that have been contributed from different expertise of the company all working towards the goal of producing a defined source of hydrocarbons in an economical and safe way for the benefit of the company, the country and Total’s customers at large.
